Pattern Around Us
Even and odd by pairing
Find out which numbers are even and which are odd by making pairs.
In your book, Maths Mela (Chapter 3), Shirley and Shiv lay out their coins in two ways. Shiv puts his coins in pairs, two by two, and every coin has a partner. For example, 4 coins make 2 pairs with none left over. We call such numbers even numbers.
Shirley's coins are different. When she puts them in pairs, one coin is always left over, with no partner. For example, 3 coins make 1 pair and 1 coin left over, and 5 coins make 2 pairs and 1 left over. We call such numbers odd numbers.
Sort the numbers from 1 to 20 by pairing. The even numbers are 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20. The odd numbers are 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 17 and 19. That is 10 even and 10 odd numbers.
Are all the numbers in the times-2 table even? Yes! 2 × 1 = 2, 2 × 2 = 4, 2 × 3 = 6, and so on. Each one is made of groups of 2, so it is already in pairs, with nothing left over.
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